About the main new products of the MWC 2019 exhibition - flagships from famous manufacturers, as well as β we have already told you in sufficient detail. Now let's talk about the strangest and most controversial solutions presented at the exhibition.
For the most part, these are unusual smartphones from Chinese manufacturers who have never been afraid to create something non-standard. However, this year some of the world's manufacturers have given birth to very unusual solutions. And of course, it was not without just strange devices that do not necessarily fit in your pocket. What does a bee hive connected to LTE cost! Yes, this has already been done, but more on that below.
Nubia Alpha
Let's start, of course, with the most unusual gadget - Nubia Alpha. Essentially, it's a hybrid of a smartphone and a smartwatch, or, if you prefer, a phone that you can put on your wrist. The manufacturer calls it a "wearable smartphone".
The device is equipped with a 4-inch diagonal flexible touch display that wraps around the hand. The display is elongated, with an aspect ratio of 36:9 and a resolution of only 960 Γ 192 pixels. In addition to touch input, gesture control is also supported (a special sensor to the left of the display helps here). And to the right of the screen, there is a 5-megapixel camera for photos and videos. True, with its help it will be possible to shoot mostly yourself. To take shots with other subjects, you have to contrive.
In addition to the form factor, the Nubia Alphaβs proximity to a βsmartβ watch is also indicated by the deviceβs processor. The Snapdragon Wear 2100 platform is used here, which includes four Cortex A7 cores with a frequency of 1,2 GHz. There is 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal memory. Using Bluetooth 4.1, you can connect wireless headphones. There is support for Wi-Fi 802.11n and LTE. There is also a heart rate sensor, as well as a step counter. Power is supplied by a battery of only 500 mAh, which, according to the manufacturer, is enough for two days of using a smartphone watch.
Energizer Power Max P18K Pop
The Energizer brand is known to many for its batteries and other power supplies. Apparently, therefore, Avenir Telecom, which owns this brand, has chosen nothing more than high-capacity batteries as one of the key features of Energiser smartphones. However, at MWC 2019, the manufacturer outdid himself by presenting a unique smartphone to the public. .
The battery of the novelty has a capacity of ... 18 mAh! According to the manufacturer, the smartphone can last up to 000 days in standby mode, and Power Max P50K Pop should live for 18 hours in talk mode. That is, you can continuously chat on the phone for almost four days! Alternatively, you can listen to music for 90 hours or watch videos for two days.
The novelty is built on a single-chip platform MediaTek Helio P70. This chip combines four ARM Cortex-A73 cores clocked at up to 2,1 GHz and four ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at up to 2,0 GHz. The ARM Mali-G72 MP3 accelerator is busy processing graphics. There is 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory. We also note the presence of a double retractable front camera-periscope, which is built on 16-megapixel and 2-megapixel image sensors. At the back is a triple camera with 12, 5 and 2 megapixel sensors.
Of course, such a large battery could not fit into a more or less standard case. The Power Max P18K Pop is 18mm thick. Everything is logical: 18 mAh in an 000 mm case. The weight of the device is not specified, but the novelty feels very weighty. Lying in bed, it is better not to hold such a smartphone above your face, you never know. In general, the new product looks more like an external battery with a built-in smartphone than vice versa. The device is very controversial, but in the modern world, of course, there are consumers for anything.
Chinese rugged smartphones
The so-called indestructible Chinese smartphones look no less strange to ordinary users. All of them are clad in powerful rubberized housings, which make them resistant not only to dust and moisture, but also to falls or shocks. They must be able to withstand high and low temperatures, as well as many other negative influences.
One such smartphone is Blackview BV9700 Pro. This is the first Blackview smartphone to support 70G networks with the MediaTek Helio M9500 modem. And next to this novelty is a similar smartphone BV4, which has a built-in walkie-talkie with a range of up to 9000 km. All the new Blackview XNUMX series products look very similar to each other. Each of them has a large display, a massive body, a large battery and a MediaTek platform.
Doogee introduced a rugged smartphone called the Doogee S2019 at MWC 90. Yes, it is a rugged modular smartphone. The manufacturer offers a number of accessories for it that attach to the back cover and expand the functionality of the S90 - similar to Moto Mods from Motorola. This way, you can add a long-range radio (400β480 MHz) or 5G support to your smartphone. There is a gamepad module for game lovers, as well as a module with a camera for shooting in the dark. And of course, a module with an additional 5000 mAh battery is available.
And the Land Rover Explorer smartphone was shown frozen in a block of ice. Perhaps in this way they wanted to show us that, unlike many other smartphones, this device is resistant to low temperatures and will not lose battery power too quickly in the cold. Interestingly, visitors to the booth could also test the reliability of the Land Rover Explorer smartphone in a box of sand and in the water. And I must say, the screen of the smartphone does not withstand sand testing too well, but the device remains in working condition.
Other unusual smartphones
Walking through the halls of MWC 2019, we also came across the booth of the French brand Hanmac. This brand produces luxury smartphones and mobile phones for the Chinese market. These devices are made in cases of expensive materials, including the skin of various animals, including snake or crocodile, as well as gold and silver. They cost accordingly - up to $ 4.
From the point of view of characteristics, these devices are by no means impressive, but they do not need it. They take their cue from their appearance (very controversial, it must be said). The manufacturer himself claims that he sets himself the goal of creating devices that are fundamentally different from others. Buying such a smartphone, the user will be sure that no one else from his environment has this. Actually, they are right - there will hardly be many people who want to acquire such a device, so you are almost guaranteed a sense of your own uniqueness.
But the Chinese brand Lesia ("Lesya") we just liked its name. There is something close to our ear in it. The ebeb wireless headphones also attracted our attention with their name. And at the IMG stand we found trendy push-button phones: they are made in a casing with a gradient color.
The Chinese company TCL, in addition to new entry-level smartphones under the brand , also showed prototypes of their and its own flexible OLED displays. So far, such devices are at the development stage, and the company plans to release such smartphones only in 2020. However, this demo shows that TCL is working in this direction and is not going to lag behind the market leaders.
Other strange devices
However, not only smartphone manufacturers managed to distinguish themselves with very unusual new products. So, at one of the stands we came across a hive with the ability to connect to LTE-m. According to the idea, by connecting the hive to the Network, the beekeeper will be able to control the level of humidity and temperature inside the beesβ home, as well as their movements, at any time.
The system is also able to analyze the collected data and offer advice based on it to improve the performance of the hive. Ultimately, this allows you to increase the population of bees and reduces the cost of maintaining the hive.
In turn, the Chinese company Royole, which became famous at CES 2019 with the announcement , showed at its stand at MWC 2019 various options for using flexible displays. For example, the manufacturer believes that flexible displays can be used on clothing or accessories such as handbags or hats.
We also note that in the time since the FlexPie flexible smartphone was demonstrated at CES 2019, Royole has done a lot of work to improve it. No, from a design point of view, everything remains the same as it was, it is still a very bulky and strange smartphone. But the manufacturer worked hard on the interface - it began to work much more smoothly. Now, when folded, the unused part of the display is turned off almost instantly, and when extended, the smartphone quickly activates the entire display and switches to tablet mode.
Strange solutions from well-known manufacturers
And in conclusion, I would like to note a few unusual solutions from companies known throughout the world. Yes, not only Chinese manufacturers are weird with their smartphones. Sometimes very strange decisions are born from famous brands.
First of all, I would like to include LG with its smartphone here. and a Dual Screen case for it. This case gives the smartphone a second display. This solution has many uses. For example, you can use two applications at once on different screens, or display the application on one display and the keyboard on the other for more convenient text entry. In games, you can even use a virtual gamepad on one of the displays, which LG itself provided. There are a lot of options, but is it necessary for anyone?
V50 ThinQ 5G in this case looks very peculiar, because the accessory adds a lot to the thickness and weight of the smartphone. In addition, the display of the cover is of lower quality than that of the phone, and has a different color reproduction. Finally, the manufacturer has not provided the ability to change the angle of the additional display, which also limits the user. In general, the solution is quite controversial and is unlikely to become popular among users.
Another rather strange smartphone from a well-known brand, in my opinion, is from Sony. Its oddity lies in its very elongated display with an aspect ratio of 21:9. According to Sony, this is a cinematic format display and it allows for a better consumption of video content, since the vast majority of films are edited in this format.
Moreover, Sony has gone further and equipped the mid-range Xperia 10 and 10 Plus models with a similar display. However, let's be honest - how often do we watch feature films on our smartphones? However, there are better devices for this. However, it is worth noting that such elongated displays, besides devoid of the notorious "bangs", look very unusual and interesting. Perhaps this format will have advantages not only in relation to watching videos.
Finally, it is impossible not to mention the Nokia 9 PureView smartphone, which uses five rear cameras at once. The idea is that all five cameras shoot synchronously, creating a better and more detailed photo and, when a special mode is activated, allowing you to choose the focus point after the fact. At the moment, this is one of the most unusual mobile cameras.
As a final word. Although many of the above devices seem strange, their creators often do not take courage - it is good that manufacturers are trying to create something unique, even if sometimes with this diligence they wander into the jungle. This, of course, is about everything presented in this collection, with the exception of βeliteβ Chinese smartphones. This is outright βgameβ.
Source: 3dnews.ru